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Ladies,
I am excitedly looking forward to combining my dc (who will be 6 & 8 by then) in Beyond for next year. My ds will be 8 and with our current program is use to doing notebooking pages or lapbooking pieces each day. I know there's not a lot of notebooking with Beyond. I'm wondering if that's something I should add to it or just leave it as it is written. He is currently doing Apologia's elementary Astronomy and the notebook to go along. He loves his notebook. He loves to look over it and show others. I'd say 60-75% he's written himself. He'll usually dictate to me what he wants in his notebook, I write it on a dry erase board, and then he copies it into his notebook. I would say though if I offered to write his dictations in his notebook, he would be happy with that too. He loves to illustrate though.

I don't know what to do, part of me says just do the program as written and don't stress, but then the other part of me says, we could add some notebooking in so he has something to look over and show to others thus reviewing his stuff and retaining it better.

I've never even seen a Beyond manual, so I don't know whether this is just a crazy thought or a good idea. I'd love to hear from all you seasoned HOD mommas.

If I were you, I would do Beyond just as it is written and add in a nature study. There are fabulous free and low-cost nature challenges and notebooking pages on the web. Or you could just start a simple nature notebook with him. He sketches something that he saw while on a nature walk, adds color with colored pencils or watercolor paints, and labels it. I've seen really neat ones where poetry is added to the page. If you wish, you could also add a composer and/or artist study. Again, there are great free resources online. If you do it that way, the "extras" are just that and can be skipped on a busy day. Beyond is simple but bursting full of goodness. I loved it because on a tight day, we could get through it fairly quickly. That being said, if there was a specific topic that really struck your ds's fancy, you could just add that in as you continue in the program.
hth,
Lara

You could also do a bit of notebooking by continuing to read Apologia science books added in as you have time and doing some of the notebooking assignments in it. There is a Botany one if you're all done with Astronomy, and maybe another one too, I'm not sure.

We are also doing Beyond next year with a 6 and 8 y old. You could easily notebook for anything I would think. You could try to find something once a week that would be worth notebooking.

Your ds sounds like most kids doing the Beyond manual - he likes the drawing part of notebooking, but not so much the writing part. That description fit both of my dc when they were doing Beyond too. I think your dc will enjoy going all out on the art projects, illustrating the poetry each week they are copying (which by the way makes a lovely poetry notebook when done), and doing the DITHOR projects up big (if they are doing that). That was enough for my dc, but it would be very easy to add in some notebooking if you'd enjoy that. I would start with doing Beyond as it is for a month, and then after that reflect on if you'd enjoy adding notebooking. They will be notebooking in BHFHG on up though, so you may just want to hold off on it so it's new and fresh in the plans they do for BHFHG. You'll know what you'd like best!

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks so much for your responses, ladies.

I love the idea of waiting a month and seeing how things go. I tend to be an all or nothing sort of person which isn't good for me or homeschooling. It'll give me time to see if it's feasible to add in or not. I also love the suggestion of maybe doing something once a week or so.

Next year we will be doing a composer study. We are currently doing that now and love it!!! I tend to be a nature study flop. We do go on walks and point things out, but it's just not in a methodical manner. KWIM?

Next year I do have Apologia's botany and the notebook planned for him as I needed to up the Science (since he will be in 3rd grade). I actually received it Saturday and he said "Yippie!" and hugged it, so that's good.

I also am planning on doing DITHOR with him as well. I know he will love to go all out with the DITHOR projects.

Again, I appreciate you taking time to answer my question.